"Tracks" by Stacey Gruver

In "Tracks", Stacey Gruver carries us on a poetic journey to observe a train yard ghost.  The story is more of a collection of railroad vignettes experienced by the narrator;  Pennies are left on the tracks and engines pound past in the night, "shaking us out of dreams".

The narrative could be tighter, but Gruver's message is conveyed none the less, steeped in emotion. Trains are primal and mysterious and the people who dwell next to the tracks are privy to the secret that others can only hear whispered in passing. 

The haunting illustration by Nicholas Lawrus adds another layer of quiet contemplation to the story.